First Mission

THE NEXT DAY

Dan walked out of the infirmary around 6 AM. As he walked out he met Sam who was walking to the infirmary.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"You're up early."

"Same goes for you."

"I was gonna wake you up, guess I didn't need to."

Dan and Sam then stared at each other, awkwardly for a few seconds.

"What happened yesterday?"

"Got in a fight."

"You lost?"

"Nah."

"Sure."

Sam seemed disappointed. He rubbed his eyes and gave himself a gentle slap.

"So, immediate first official day, huh?"

"Yeah, thought there'd be more events for new students."

A huge gush of wind passes through them, ruining their hair.

"This isn't a school that would lend money for events. Without making at least twice back." Kai said as he puts his hand around Dan and Sam's shoulders.

Dan turned around quickly. "When'd you get here?"

Kai grinned and raised his hand on Dan—not on Sam. "So, excited for your first missions?"

"Can't say..."

"Yeah!"

"As you grow, missions get harder, you'll see more things. Things that'll make you regret being a sorcerer." Kai said. His voice quiet down and got serious, in contrast to his loud and cheerful demeanor

"What things?" Dan gets suspicious

"Especially missions against mana criminals, unfathomable, unnatural, gruesome death. Are you two up for it?" He asks

"Yeah?" Dan unsure

"Yeah!" Sam not taking it seriously

"This isn't a movie where things are made with CGI and makeup. I need to know that you won't let you get the best of yourself."

"It's not like we have a choice."

"..."

"Alright then, missions will be given out when you're called."

Kai's personality change made Dan and Sam feel uncomfortable, he wasn't trying to scare or spook them. He's serious. Dead serious.

The three walked back to the student dorm and waited in the lobby with everyone else. After two hours missions were finally given. Though one at a time. Nate and Vic first, then Jay and Heath, then Kris and Hiro, then Sam and Volta, and finally Dan and Laura were last to be given.

They were given a dossier. A one-page report of their mission.

Beast Count: 1

Approximate Level: 2

Behavior: Passive

Victim Count: N/A

Location: Sunset House Complex, Clouden, Hursh

"Clouden? That's pretty far. What do you think, Laura?"

"Uh... Um..."

"Alright, train station it is."

The two walked to the train station, side by side. A long, painful, ten-minute walk in silence. Frequently, no vehicles were passing by, not even public transport. That was because people really like the subway/train/tram in Dayland. Especially in a big state like Hursh, Bright, etc. It approximately has 1.6 million ridership a day.

"You're not talkative, are you?"

"N-N-No."

"You're nervous, right? Just control your breathing. The first thing you should do to calm yourself is control your breathing, it slows the heart rate."

Laura takes a deep breath and exhaled, she repeated this a few times. Her heartbeat slowed down. She was consciously controlling her breath.

"What's Kai to you?"

"Huh?"

"Just curious."

"He's... He's our teacher."

"You're close though, right? He called you "chan"."

"Oh... Right. He's an... Old friend."

"Hmmm... Okay."

Dan wanted to ask Laura what he questioned earlier. But the timing didn't seem right and he wasn't familiar enough with her.

They arrived at the train station. Bought a ticket to Clouden. Clouden is still a part of Hursh but it is at the border of Hursh, next to Dettory.

They were questioned before entering the train. It was a fair questioning, Laura held a sheathed katana. But they were sorcerers so it was an easy out.

They got on the bullet train, which if true would arrive at Clouden in around 5 minutes. They sat next to each other with a gap of about eighty centimeters. The cart they were in was empty and was relatively short. It could maybe hold 40 seats for adults. They sat on the long seat rather than the individual seats. Laura was trying to avoid eye contact with Dan. She looks in the opposite direction and at the floor.

Dan glanced at her and stared at her for a few seconds.

"Hey, Laura."

"Hm?" She startled

"Can I ask you something?"

"Um..."

"Do you like being a sorcerer?"

"Uh... S-sometimes."

"When do you not like it?"

"When I'm partnered, I guess."

"Oh.."

"Wait... I uh... I didn't mean it."

"It's okay. People tend to not like me."

"Why?"

"I never really thought about it. Sam says I'm a jerk but he always thinks that."

"I-is that why you fought Nathan?"

"I don't really know why I did that either. But he did say something important."

"What?"

"You know one of those quotes from a book or a dialogue from a movie where it just hurts to hear, not because it's an insult but because it's true and you can relate to it?"

"Sorry, I don't watch that many movies."

"He said: What are you trying to prove?"

"...What are you trying to prove?"

The train stopped before Dan could think for an answer. Dan immediately stood up and walked out of the train, Laura grabbed her katana and followed him out. They jogged to Sunset House Complex and arrived in about five minutes.

At the front gate of the complex was a checkpoint. Dan walked to the checkpoint and saw the guard lying down on the floor, in a pool of blood. A big wound in his chest, a stab wound it looks like. Dan walks to him and levels to the man. He checks for a pulse, nothing. Laura came over and saw. "He's... Dead."

"Laura, we better hurry."

Dan got up and started running inside the complex. They reached the houses. No residents, no sound. The houses looked fine. From the corner of his eye, Dan catches a broken window. He runs towards it, leaving Laura. He got to the window and peeked inside. Severed limbs scattered in a pool of blood, a half-eaten head laid on the floor, missing from its body. A chill ran down Dan's spine. He started to worry.

Then he heard quiet cackling from within the room. From above, slithered down a large centipede-like creature with a closed mouth. Three deep blue eyes looking directly at Dan. Dan's mind went blank, it was like he was hypnotized. A bright yellow glow from inside the beast traveled to its head, it opened its mouth. Two tongues with razor-sharp mandibles on the end. Saliva dripped everywhere from its mouth and tongue. It let out a loud screech, and following that screech was the yellow glow.

Its mana was native to the Corruption Beasts. A force of repel that launched Dan at subsonic speed to the few houses behind him. He went through a total of three houses, approximately 150 meters. Dan flew right past Laura. Seeing him made her tremble. The beast crawled out of the house. A big centipede, around 5 meters wide, 3 meters tall, and 20 meters long.

The beast started charging at Laura. She tries to control her breathing but couldn't bring herself to focus. She held her scabbard in her left hand, and the grip of her sword in her right. Her usual iai stance. But she couldn't stop shaking. The beast closed in and she couldn't bring herself to focus still. She pulled her right foot back and stepped backwards with her left. She turned around and started running away from the beast instead.

"What a shame, you could've taken it out in one slash." A man, sitting atop a roof of a house. He was quite hidden, you couldn't find him unless you really look for him. His voice was reverbed, echoed in a few millisecond after. Like speaking in a cave.

The beast then presses itself backwards and propelled itself forward like a spring. Laura jumped and rolled to her left. The beast's head went through a house and was slightly stuck. It was struggling to unstuck itself. She quickly got up, turned around, and held the grip of her sword. She pulls out the blade, but she hesitated halfway. Her attack made a shallow cut. The beast pulled itself out. It turned to Laura and dashes to her. She holds up her sword with both hands and the beast used its tongue mandible and went pass Laura's guard and stabbed her on her right shoulder. The beast used the force of its attack to divert her to the right, smashing through the house. She was late to cast amplification, so she took the full brunt of the attack. Then she was smashed through another house but stopped in the middle.

She wailed in pain. She struggles. She starts to panic. "Come on, dammit!" She yelled frustrated at herself. The beast pulled itself back slightly giving her space. She was hanging on the wall as the mandible pierced through her and the wall she was pinned up against. With her amplification backing her physical prowess, she twisted her blade and starts spinning it clockwise. She cuts off both tongues, shredded them. She drops to the ground. She couldn't move her right arm without doing damage to it.

The beast pulled back and the same yellow glow flowed to its head. It was about to do the same exact screech it did earlier. The left wall bursts from outside, it was Dan, he ran in picked Laura up, he turns his body around and crashed out of the other wall. Crashing out he fell over. Dan quickly got up and picked up Laura. He casts "Black Envelope: Footgear" and started running away from the beast.

They got away from the beast, for now. He puts Laura down next to a fence. The mandible that pierced Laura luckily was small and thin, she was still bleeding quite a lot. Dan took off his jacket, grabbed Laura's blade, cuts one of the sleeves of his jacket.

"Laura, look at me."

She looks at Dan's eyes. She started tearing a little.

"You've got to do this, okay? You've got something to prove too, right?"

She stops crying, started controlling her breathing, breathing in and out through her mouth. Dan breaks a wooden fence and broke it down to a small size.

"Bite this." He said.

She opened her mouth and bites the piece of wood. Holding it with her mouth like a dog woth a bone.

"Just look at me, okay? I'll count to three." Dan said. He grips the mandible that was stuck to her.

"One..." Dan then immediately pulls the mandible out as fast as he can and as strong as he can. It got out in one try. Her screams muffled by the piece of wood in her mouth. He then uses his ripped off sleeve and pressures her wound. He then tied the sleeve in a dead knot. The bleeding stopped and she should be able to fight.

"Sorry, about that but we need to keep fighting."

He goes to her left and puts her hand over his shoulders. Lifted her up and helps her back on her feet.

"Thank you."

"No worries."

Laura could stand on her own. She takes a deep breath with her nose and exhaled through her mouth. She finally calmed down. She can focus now. She grips her sword with her right hand, she charges it and herself with "Light Amplification". She looks at Dan then the enemy approaching. Dan takes a few steps away from Laura.

She sheathes her blade in her scabbard. Ready to perform an iai blade move. The beast was slithering quickly toward them. Her timing was perfect, she drew her sword the exact moment it got close enough. She slashed the beast's mouth, making it spread open. The beast pulled back, whining. It immediately unleashed its screech attack.

The two were thrown away by the force of repel. Luckily for them, after the fence, there wasn't anything in the way. However, their ears rang, their visions ablur, they've lost equilibrium. Dan was still thrown but the side effects didn't affect him much, because he had "Black Envelope: Arm Gauntlets" on both his arm covering and protecting his ears.

Dan slowly got up on one knee, his head down. Blood drips from his head. He holds his righ palm to the back of his head, pulled his hand back and his palm was covered in blood.

"Dan."

"Laura, what is it?"

"I've a plan. But I need you to give me a moment."

Dan looked at her eyes, she looked determined and certain. "Haha... You take your time."

Dan stands up, casts "Black Envelope: Footgear" and runs at the beast at full speed. He screamed as he charges towards it. The beast springs itself forward, Dan jumps forward and turns around. As he was above the beast, he lifts both his fists, and swings down as hard as he can. He ground pounds the beast crushing its head.

The beast then tries to runaway, in the direction of Laura but away from her. She stands up chases after it and stabs the end of the beast with her katana. She made sure that her blade went through the beast and the ground. The beast's body was straightened out.

"Dan, boost!"

"Got it!"

Dan runs at Laura and smashes the ground. Releasing a wave of mana that repelled Laura at high speed. She was gripping the blade with everything she had, making sure she doesn't lose it. As she repelled, the blade followed suit. Cutting the beast in half.

Dan runs to Laura. "Was that part of your plan?"

"N- Not really."

"Good job." He complimented as he pats Laura's right shoulder.

"Ow."

"Oh, fuck. Sorry."

"Heh... It's okay."

Distant, loud clapping. Sounds of walking on ceramic. It brought the two's attention, they looked at the direction the sound. Atop a roof, a man, wearing half black, half white mask. On his white side (left side), was an eye with three pupils set in a row, the middle one bigger than the others. And a cartoon smile with lines as teeth. On his black side (right side) was an eye that had a different shape, there were only one pupil, but it was crossed out sideways. And its mouth was also cartoonish but also a different shape, and the teeth were sharp. No nose, no holes either. He wore a jacket, unzipped, and it looks like a bomber jacket. Long sleeve on his right, short sleeve on his left.

He started walking to the edge, Dan and Laura just stared at him. He drops to the ground without jumping. As he hit the ground, he dented the earth. A big crater in where he fell. Out of nowhere, a huge wavelength of electrifying mana surges out from this man.

Sensing the wavelength made the two freeze. They couldn't move, not a single muscle.

The distance between them and the man was probably twenty meters. He was suddenly only half a meter a way, his two hands pointed out and tapping their foreheads. The two collapsed, unconscious.

Note: And that's the first volume. Hope you've enjoyed it so far. This series has been rewritten by me like four to five times. Started from a really small cast of just three to ten and more. I'll be finishing this one. When I publish this I'm probably 1/10 - 1/8 of the way finished with the overall story.